There are two main methods of getting X working under Red Hat's
distribution of Linux. The first and easiest method, is to use Red Hat's
own ``Xconfigurator'' utility. The utility tries to
detect your hardware and installs the applicable X software with the
appropriate configuration settings.

If you are still unsuccessful after trying out various settings
with Xconfigurator, you may have better luck with the
``xf86config'' utility. Although certainly not as
user-friendly or attractive as Xconfigurator is, it gives you finer
control over the configuration process.

Finally, if you are still out of luck you may
have to resort to editing the
``/etc/X11/XF86Config'' file by
hand and tweaking various settings. If this is the case, you may need to
get help from the Linux community (see Section 13.3 for
details). Relax, however -- in a majority of cases Xconfigurator does an
adequate job!

After getting X working properly, you may be disappointed in the
lack of rich colours. This is because X uses a default 8-bit per pixel
(``bpp'') colour depth. You can use higher colour
depths, however, assuming your video hardware will support them.

The various colour depths are listed in your
``/etc/X11/XF86Config'' file, and
look like this:

The above section shows the possible resolutions which are
available when using the 24-bit colour depth (800x600 and 1024x768, as
listed in the "Modes" line); these resolutions can be
switched between "on-the-fly" using the
<Alt><+>
and <Alt><->
keys.

Tip: Tip: As a default, when X starts up it does so using the lowest
resolution. If you dislike this behaviour as much as I do, simply edit
the ``/etc/X11/XF86Config'' file
and reverse the resolutions (ie. "1024x768""800x600").

When you are getting things set up, you can test each colour depth
manually by typing, ``startx -- -bpp 24'' (for the
24-bit depth) and make sure X is working properly for the colour depth
you wish to use.)

If you are able to successfully use a higher colour depth and wish
to use it as the default, you will need to create a
``/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc'' file
as follows:

exec X :0 -bpp 24

The above change will allow X to use 24 bits per pixel (if you have
problems with this, try 16 or 32 instead of 24).

Assuming you have configured X properly, starting it is a simple
matter of typing ``startx'' as any user. The X GUI
will start, and after you have finished your session and quit X, you will
be returned to the regular Linux console.

Optionally, X can start up at system boot, and
always run (see Section 5.2 for
details on how to accomplish this). This can be handy for those users who
dislike seeing the "boring" black & white console, or for
those who wish to avoid dealing with command line shells as much as
possible.